Let's Talk "Why You Listen": News Radio in Atlanta

[JVR]

One of the things I've been looking to do is staring a thread discussing the reasons why one might listen to either WSB, All News, or maybe even WABE. And I need the public's help. So I'm asking you, WHY do you listen to what you listen to, what are the positives and negatives, and finally, what are you looking for when you tune in?

I'm looking civil and constructive opinions, please. Positive advice and thoughts are always a good thing.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I don't know if you are looking for the shallow answers that some people will let roll off their tongue, whether they make sense or not... or if you are doing research for a PHD and want deep answers with supporting data. (Do any of us think that deeply when we turn on the radio?)

First I would suggest that we recongize some parallel traits of humanity. Why do some people live to turn on the radio and hear rock music, while some people will shoot the radio with a shotgun if they hear one more piece of rock music.

Why are some people, primarily guys, walking-talking encyclopedias about sports and some of us while reading the AJC each morning never even open the sports section.

Why are some people experts on NASCAR and other people when asked will respond... NAS-what?

If you can explain all those things, then there is a chance you will walk away from whatever responses you get with some understanding of news on the radio.

There is a buzz-word among the journalists who appear on "current affairs programming" today in which they refer to certain people as "Policy Wonks". These are people who see government and history and wars and politics as filtered through forces that are predictable. When it comes to politics and government and legislation and my personal relationship to community... I am a Wonk. The dictionary says that word is kinfolk to Nerd.

WSB, AllNews106.7 and WABE are three places where you can get a flow of "factoids" that qualify as news. WSB does a good job of broad general news but you have to suffer through the tripe of too much one-sided, biased Talk "stuff" and the radio has become less and less news and more and more tripe so I listen to them less and less. AllNews106.7 gives you pretty good news. The problem is they tend to compress everything they think you would ever want to know down to 20 minutes and give that to you over and over and over and over. So, for me WABE becomes the bright spot. They give you at least a two hour version of the days news which they repeat and repeat. On WABE you have a pretty good chance that you will hear a reporter explain that there are two sides to this issue, and you will get a report on what the two sides are. That is becoming a rare novelty today. On WABE there will be one or two hours a day where you get to hear commentary and news as colllected and mulched by the folks at BBC which gives the news a 3rd dimension.

Why do I listed to WABE? They are the only ones who seem to know what the hell they are doing, and the only ones who have management who will let them do what they know how to do.

 

[bnaivar]

I listen to news in Atlanta simply because there is no music or sports station in Atlanta that I would rather listen to.

(I like Oldies, so sue me.)

 

[acheron1982]

Well first a little about me:

Im 30 yrs old, male, white, gay, Libertarian, enjoy alternative rock and classic rock.

I listen to the river some and Rock 100.5 but usually stream either Got Radio's Alternative channel through my tunein app or Krock via radio.com app.

Im a news junkie and really became a political junkie after listening to Neal Boortz. I despise Hannity, Limbaugh and while I tend to politically agree with cain, he is still rather boring. Now that my Boortz is gone, I tend to listen to Adam Goldfine (spelling) who maintains an open show where people from multiple sides of an issue without disrespecting one side or another.

For fact based news without opinion, I tune to WSB because I know the news reporters on this station know Atlanta. I LOVE Jamie Duprees insight on Washington because of its lack of liberal/conservative bias.

Traffic??? Hands down WSB. Aggressive and knowledgeable of metro atlanta roads. This is very important.

I went to school for Meteorology and enjoy Mellish over cook (which is what AN uses)

Being gay, I find most of my news junkie fellow gays are liberal. I introduce them to AN and while they may not like Hannity or Cain, they all tend to go back to WSB for the news at the top and bottom of the hour and in the morning. The biggest complaint is the "fake" attitude people on AN have. Also the condensed news version. WSB does not follow the program rules when in. Breaking News mood. Now while im not much of a wabe listener, many of my liberal friends and conservative friends enjoy the national and international news on this station but when it comes to local and state news, WSB hands down. Its all about what your use to and how WSB has the reporters who have been there from the beginning. This is why WSB TV is number one and CBS Atlanta will always remain at the bottom thinks to their constant face changes.

 

[acheron1982]

My spelling was atrocious in that post but im on my phone. Thank and not think would be correct! HaHa. Question the whys on anything I wrote if you wish. I love questions like this.

 

[rickydradio]

I grew up in New York on WCBS and 1010 Wins. When I moved to ATL, I spent 8 years working at WGST and 2 years at WSB. News, news-talk and sports talk has just been my thing since I was 4 years old. I'm 47 now.

 

[Mike_Rafone]

I am +65, Caucasian, male, married, ABJ and MA from UGA in Broadcast Journalism. Ws an accredited radio reporter at the national political conventions in 1968, wrote my thesis on the impact on conventions by televisiion coverage. Managed UGA campus radio programming on WGAU-FM 1966-1968 (when it was discontinued). Helped author the student legislaiton establishing a formal campus radio station. Later was news director for WDOL-AM/FM in Athens. I still am a siren chaser and go nuts with breaking news, seeking the first hand sources (scanners, other stations) rather than waiting for our local media).

That's my broadcasting pedigree.

WSB makes tornados out of wind gusts, floods out of rain sprinkles, Gen. Serhman-esque confligations out of grass fires. Enough said.

AN1067 is sometimes slow out of the gate, gets a bit repetitious, is new to the craft, but willing to learn. It will take years for them to be like WBBM, WCBS-AM, WINS or KYW. But be patient; given enough time and enough leeway, they will get there.

What i want are facts, not factoids; balance not politically slanted reporting (NPR and BBC). I want it fast, like the original days of CNN-TV with lots of "This just in …" and "Updating our reports …"

If I want weather, I've got Accuweather, Weather Channel, and Weather Ungeround on the Internet.

If I want sports (other than UGA football), send for a doctor; I'm sick.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

What i want are facts, not factoids; balance not politically slanted reporting (NPR and BBC).

I stand in awe of your pedigree. Dying to know what you have done (more detail than I see in your profile) in the years since being employed by broadcast stations. (That is not a request for public disclosure on your part.)

I offer this observation: If you find NPR and BBC too politically slanted then that tells me you are walking around with a severely political slant all your own, whether you recognize it or admit it.... or not. That is not a problem.... if you know that you have your own slant. I guess I can't prove that it is a problem if you feel you don't have a slant all your own.

 

[hail2theorange]

I stand in awe of your pedigree. Dying to know what you have done (more detail than I see in your profile) in the years since being employed by broadcast stations. (That is not a request for public disclosure on your part.)

I offer this observation: If you find NPR and BBC too politically slanted then that tells me you are walking around with a severely political slant all your own, whether you recognize it or admit it.... or not. That is not a problem.... if you know that you have your own slant. I guess I can't prove that it is a problem if you feel you don't have a slant all your own.

Everyone has their own slant... I too, find NPR slanted left. Not only in how they cover, but in what they choose to cover and highlight. I would suggest that it is nearly impossible to broadcast a truly balanced program. (Not WABE specifically, so much, but the national shows like Morning Edition & All Things Considered).

To answer the original question, I would say that I want to be informed, mostly about local happenings and politics, but enjoy most sports, too -- I would like to be able to get key scores without having to change to an all-sports station or pull out the phone to look them up. I like to hear multiple side of issues, so tend to listen equally to NPR, AllNews, WSB, and Fox or CNN on Sirius-XM. I can count on one hand the times a traffic report has told me anything in time to do anything besides tell me why I was stuck -- I don't care about traffic reports at all, so I'm tending to spend more time on satellite radio lately, since the local stations spend more drive time covering traffic and telling you what they're going to be telling you later than any actual news. I would delight in the return of a show like Tom Hughes' old morning show with a mix of news, sports, weather, traffic & politics -- but I guess I believe I fall into the "unwanted demographic" class, here.

 

[alleo]

what Atlanta radio owners plays to gays the most ?

 

[NightFlyer]

43 male IT professional. Music wise I like classic rock, alternative and active rock when I'm in the mood for it. I usually turn on AN106.7 for my morning news fix, then on to music during my hour and something commute. Aside from River, I stream a whole lot more these days since Dave-FM is gone.

 

[secondchoice]

what Atlanta radio owners plays to gays the most ?

I really do not keep track of what folks do in private, but according to my wife's homophobic nephew: The River. He got all bent out of sharp when he saw I had The River on my presets. According to him: "They play a lot Elton and Queen songs and they also edit out f*g*ot out of "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. I always roll down the windows and turn up 97.1 when I know he can hear it.

 

[Surfer]

I listen to 106.7 far more than WSB for several reasons. First, I like the delivery. It could have a greater sense of urgency but, compared to the WSB version of making mountains out of molehills, this is preferrable. Second, I get more information. WSB has the same 6-9 stories over and over. AN throws in more, IMHO. Finally, I can see their potential. I have been in broadcasting since 1980 and in many ways, this is the most ambitious format start up I've seen in years. (I know there are others but I haven't "personally" experienced them so I will stick to what I've witnessed) AN106.7 wants to get it right. They're not perfect but they do have a desire to want to do better. That's an attitude I feel is sorely lacking in today's radio culture. All the other stations, I really bypass as they are not personally fulfilling to me. (I will, however, agree with Brent on one issue...I, too, would really like a decent oldies station)

 

[jabba17]

what Atlanta radio owners plays to gays the most ?

I really do not keep track of what folks do in private, but according to my wife's homophobic nephew: The River. He got all bent out of sharp when he saw I had The River on my presets. According to him: "They play a lot Elton and Queen songs and they also edit out f*g*ot out of "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. I always roll down the windows and turn up 97.1 when I know he can hear it.

Lots of songs get censored nowadays when they used to not to. "Who Are You" by the Who, "Money" by Pink Floyd, and "Jet Airliner" by Steve Miller come to mind. I remember when they used to play the uncensored versions of each on the radio.

What's interesting is that I am hearing the censored album version of "Money For Nothing" nowadays, instead of the single version which omits that verse altogether. Also, the version of "Who Are You" I hear these days is a version I know of on no record, with some of the lines repeated, and not the originally-cleaned-up "who the hell are you" line. Ditto for "Jet Airliner", which has the long intro from the album combined with the "funky kicks" line from the single.

 

[JVR]

In my latest addition of #InDepthFridayNight, I take a look at your answers to this question, combine them with mine, and go "in depth" on the differences between All News, WABE, and WSB in Atlanta, plus why each of you listen. Take a look: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/2013/02/indepthfridaynight-returns-news-and.html!

 

[acheron1982]

what Atlanta radio owners plays to gays the most ?

I really do not keep track of what folks do in private, but according to my wife's homophobic nephew: The River. He got all bent out of sharp when he saw I had The River on my presets. According to him: "They play a lot Elton and Queen songs and they also edit out f*g*ot out of "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. I always roll down the windows and turn up 97.1 when I know he can hear it.

Lots of songs get censored nowadays when they used to not to. "Who Are You" by the Who, "Money" by Pink Floyd, and "Jet Airliner" by Steve Miller come to mind. I remember when they used to play the uncensored versions of each on the radio.

What's interesting is that I am hearing the censored album version of "Money For Nothing" nowadays, instead of the single version which omits that verse altogether. Also, the version of "Who Are You" I hear these days is a version I know of on no record, with some of the lines repeated, and not the originally-cleaned-up "who the hell are you" line. Ditto for "Jet Airliner", which has the long intro from the album combined with the "funky kicks" line from the single.

Without getting all political, I just think it's signs of the power of our Government now days. I note that the censorship of "Money for Nothing" was first done only a few years ago in Canada (a Socialist country) prior to the US following suit. While violence may have intensified on tv, I don't know if you have noticed or not but the sex on tv has gotten softer (no pun intended). Think about it though; You don't have any Sliver, Basic Instinct, Body of Evidence or other really heated soft porn movies at the box office now days.